Appraising Lagos Wealth Creation Strides

Although living in Lagos State is challenging for a lot of people because of the comparative high cost of housing, transportation and other living expenses, it remains where every Nigerians want to reside due to abundance of opportunities and pace of development. It is where many see hope in the midst of deep rooted unemployment in the country.

Lagos is exceptional in its provision of the legal and much of the physical and social infrastructure on which private production and commerce thrive. Of course the current administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode had from the onset “focus like a laser beam” on improving the state economy and establishing his administration’s capacity to work and end with an excellent grade.

Rather than lamenting and giving excuses, Ambode challenged failure to a duel by given top priority to wealth creation and poverty eradication. No doubt, the influx of people from other states into Lagos impacted on unemployment rate in the state.

For this reason, one of the very first tasks performed by Governor Ambode upon his inauguration was the creation of a Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment with the sole aim of solving the unemployment quandary in the state. Three years down the line, the soundness of the ministry is unquestionable going by account of the achievements it has reeled out by the Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yusuf on May 10, 2018.

Arrowheads of the job creation initiatives of the Ambode administration undoubtedly is the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (“LSETF” or “the Fund”), established by The Lagos State Employment Trust Fund Law 2016 to provide financial support to residents of Lagos State, for job, wealth creation and to tackle unemployment. LSETF serves as an instrument to inspire the creative and innovative energies of all Lagos residents and reduce unemployment across the state. The fund has the mandate to directly invest N25 billion in helping Lagos residents grow and scale their Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (“MSMEs”) or acquire skills to get better jobs.

The fund has now disbursed N5.22 billion loan to 6, 462 beneficiaries of its entrepreneur- ial scheme in fulfilment of one of the pivotal promises of Governor Ambode to promote and sustain entrepreneurship and employment. Through the loan programmes, additional 8,797 new taxpayers have been added to the Lagos State tax register. .

In addition to the loan scheme, LSETF’s employability programme is currently equipping thousands of unemployed youths with the skills that would make them globally competitive and employable. The target is to train 10,000 unemployed youths through vocational trainings that would prepare them for employments in the construction, manufacturing, healthcare, entertainment, and hospitality and tourism industries. The fund will thereafter help the trainees to secure job placements opportunities within the identified industries. The United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) has thrown its weight behind this programme through the Lagos State Employability Support Project, which plans to increase the pool of skilled manpower to alleviate the acute shortages of employable labour in Lagos State.

An important segment of the job and wealth creation programmes is the planned Mindset Re-orientation programme for 2,000 unemployed youths in the state. The training will include, employability skills training, career counseling, effective CV writing, developing effective interview skills and job hunting strategy for the invited interns and job fair. This will go a long way in making mass of unemployable youth to be employable and secure job.

Besides the graduates, the government also recognises the potential role of the artisans in wealth creation.